ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – That stench assaulting your sense of smell emanating from the east of Manhattan isn’t just coming from the Mets and their improbable collapse from grace.

There also is a hideous odor coming from Hempstead out on Long Island, where the Jets reside with their 1-3 record after an inexcusable 17-14 loss to the Bills yesterday at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Bills are a team so injury depleted you wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d imported some players from the nearby University of Buffalo campus and suited them up.

A win over the Bills – who entered the day with an 0-3 record, ranked dead-last in the NFL in offense and defense and without four starters and three backups on defense to start the game before losing a starting cornerback and safety during the game – was essential.

The fact the Jets failed to beat this team sent a highly ominous message to their fans for the rest of this season. It indicates this simply isn’t a very good team, and recovering from this 1-3 hole to make the playoffs is about as likely as Eric Mangini and Bill Belichick vacationing together on Cape Cod next summer.

“It’s very difficult,” said Chad Pennington, who was intercepted by Terrence McGee to end the game. “You certainly don’t imagine yourself starting out like this, but this is the position we’re in and the answers lie within our own locker room.”

The Jets’ locker room following this disgraceful loss was a place of sheer disillusionment.

“This was a game that we should have won and we just didn’t get the job done,” Jets defensive end Shaun Ellis said.

Jets linebacker Victor Hobson said he is very surprised about the poor start to the season.

“But we can’t mope around about it,” Hobson said. “We understand the situation we’re in. We have to make sure we don’t get down on ourselves; that we stick together as a team, because we’re all we’ve got. It’s times like this when you get tested as a team.”

When the Jets watch the film of this fiasco inside the dark auditorium today at Weeb Ewbank Hall they’re going to be disgusted to witness the opportunity to get to 2-2 they squandered.

Consider the ways they let this game – and possibly their season – get away from them:

* Trent Edwards, a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start, outplayed Pennington, completing 22-of-28 for 234 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT and looked like a poised veteran along the way.

* Jabari Greer, a third-string cornerback pressed into duty because of the rash of injuries, jumped a Laveranues Coles route and picked off a telegraphed sideline pass by Pennington in the fourth quarter to set up the Bills’ winning TD. It was his first career INT.

* That winning touchdown was scored by backup tight end Michael Gaines, who was signed off the street on Sept. 10 after Kevin Everett suffered a spine injury in the season opener. Gaines caught a one-yard Edwards pass on fourth-and-goal with 6:56 remaining to give Buffalo a 17-7 lead it would not relinquish. It was Gaines’ third career TD catch and first since 2005.

The Jets, finally awaking from their afternoon slumber, appeared to be making a spirited comeback, cutting the Buffalo lead to 17-14 on an eight-yard Leon Washington scoring run with 3:02 remaining.

After the Jets held the Bills to a three-and-out, they moved the ball to the Buffalo 39-yard line, one short completion away from getting kicker Mike Nugent within range to try tying the game.

But Pennington, trying to throw the ball away seeing a coverage he didn’t like, lost the handle on it on the release and threw it right into the arms of Bills’ cornerback Terrence McGee with six seconds remaining to end the Jets’ day of futility.

Add it all up and what you have is an utterly porous day for the Jets, who have inept Miami (0-4) to thank for keeping them out of the AFC East basement.

“Obviously, we’re all very disappointed,” an obviously agitated Mangini said. “There are a lot of things we have to do better . . . a lot of things we have to do better. I told (the players) that the answers are not outside of the room. They’re inside of the room. That’s where the answers come from. There’s no magic potion.”